Russell Museum — Attraction in Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community

The Russell Museum shares the stories 📚 of Kororāreka Russell and Īpipiri Bay of Islands.

It tells the stories of the first Māori arrivals in the Bay, through to the development of Russell / Kororāreka, from a small Māori fishing 🐠🐟 village, to a port of call for visiting ships and whalers to, today's tourist town 😀

Among the museum collections is Māori taonga including a small waka (canoe) 🛶 an exact one-fifth scale model replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour, an original whaleboat 🐋 and mementos of game fisherman, Zane Grey.

I enjoyed watching the DVD 📀 of historic Russell and seeing the exhibitions that are on display in the gallery. It is very well curated.

The Russell Museum operates as a registered charity and does not receive any funding 💸 for operational expenses. The Museum is self funded by the entrance fee, research charges, and profits from the...

The museum is overall very interesting and well designed, but it skims over the issue of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) without explaining its content or the key differences between the British and Māori versions. This gives the impression that colonization took place in a relatively peaceful manner. Furthermore, the section devoted to the French strongly emphasizes the episodes in which they showed a lack of respect for Māori culture, which conveys the implicit message that British colonization was, in any case, the less destructive one. It is quite clear, however, that it wouldn’t have been any better had it been the French — as history shows from what France did in its own colonies

Warm...

If you are not interested in NZ history, then keep your $10 for a nice coffee and ice cream down the road. No marvels here. But if you are into history then don't miss this one. It gives a good starting point and it will link-up the stories with the other places you visit in NZ. Oh, there is a 1:5 replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour which worth a look. Note: sorry, can't take photos in the museum, otherwise would show...